The survey set out to determine the potential size of the North American cannabis market, who makes up the overall market and what members of that market think and do. The survey's executive summary states the audience for cannabis consumption, "is NOT about demographics, it is about behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, etc.”

To assess accurately, the Canadian and U.S. markets were differentiated with their own survey.

A large majority of North American adults favor some form of legalizing marijuana (83% in the U.S., 84% in Canada). That may be so because most North American adults had become familiar with cannabis well before the move toward medical legalizing began—many surveyed said they had used marijuana illegally. Whether legal or not, the majority of respondents agree cannabis has true medical applications, although Canadians appear to want more proof of its medical benefits.

In what may provide a true cross-border business opportunity—provided government stays out of the way—the survey found more similarities than differences among Canadian and U.S. cannabis consumers. More than 20% of survey respondents had used medical marijuana in the past six months (23% in the U.S., 21% Canada); an additional 38% in the U.S. and 32% in Canada said they are open to considering cannabis consumption in the future; but 39% in the U.S. as well as 47% of Canadians said they are not open to using cannabis in the future. While abstainers are not in the majority in either country, they are not a small minority either, proving there’s room for an industry to grow.

The average age of cannabis consumers in both countries is around 40. Consumers are more likely to be single but if married, they are less likely to have children.

It appears Canadians have access to less information and less product choice than their counterparts south of the border. It also appears those who use cannabis for medical purposes prefer to eat, drink or smear it on their body as an ointment rather than smoke it.

Some say cannabis meets a completely (medical) need, while some recreational users say it is an alternative to alcohol, and still others say cannabis and alcohol are complementary, which keeps open the question: What will legalized cannabis do to the wine industry?

The survey report points out that legalized cannabis offers not only potential for business within the industry but also outside it, citing especially the food and beverage industries, as well as travel and tourism.

BDS is confident in the survey's relative accuracy. The sample size was 1,136 Canadians age 18 and over as well as 11,646 U.S. citizens age 21 and over, weighted to represent gender, age, ethnicity and other factors. The survey’s goal was to reach a 95% level of confidence.Survey respondents represented a diverse cross section including cannabis connoisseurs, the medically motivated, recent cannabis adopters, Millennials, corporate executives, general laborers, so-called soccer moms and so on.In other words, legalized cannabis in North America is big.

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The Toronto, Canada-based INKAS Group of Companies believe the bigness of the cannabis market requires an armored truck to transport the product. In a press release, INKAS says that in the U.S, “The cannabis transport market will be big business as people gravitate towards more widespread use of the drug,”and that the company "entered the market with cutting edge security technology that will deliver all that is needed from the rules and regulations handed down by state legislature."

INKAS has not skipped over its home country's cannabis possibilities. In late 2017, the company teamed with Canada’s Canopy Growth Corporation, the first publicly traded cannabis company in North America. Viewed as a “trial run for the massive growth opportunity south of the border,” INKAS transported 100,000 cannabis plants from Ontario to British Columbia—apparently without a problem.

I am an independent wine writer, but once was a writer and producer of audio visual presentations in New York City, and a home winemaker in my spare time. I followed the winemaking bug to the Finger Lakes region of New York where I made wine for a small winery. Over the past...